patrons_of_the_mandalafandomcom-20200213-history
Session 23
Session 23 Sunday, February 11, 2018 12:56 PM Each of them will have their own solo scene in the form of a text segment to read privately. We'll start with Noah finding Drusilla as she lays dying. Drusilla tells him to find the rest of their people and bring them up to the surface, it is time for them to return. As you are making your way among the dead and the dying, you come upon the broken remains of Drusilla, your captain of the guard. The lower half of her body has been crushed beneath by the flying debris when the section of the city walls she stood upon fell to the flaming missiles of the Ash Giants. Her legs lay several feet away from what is left of her torso, a smear of viscera between them and the ruins of her ribcage, a half-ton chunk of blood caked masonry resting next to them. As you kneel down over her, you realize to your horror that she is somehow still alive. Alive and struggling to speak. As gently as you can, you cradle her head and lower your ear to her lips. "You must find our people, my sister," she whispers with surprising clarity. "Find them and bring them back to the surface, we have stove against the serpents beneath the earth for too long. It is time for us to return to our cousins in the sun." Drusilla raises a hand and gestures over the other survivors of the Second Battle of Khina, the frightened but determined villagers and escaped slaves as they pick through the smoking wreckage of their homes. "They need our strength now, more than ever…" You hear her voice start to falter and desperately call out for one of your companions, a healer, anyone to save the dying Amazon. "Find them, my sister…" But before any aid can arrive you realize that, Drusilla, captain of the guard of Khina, has died. Tori will be overcome with a vision of the Eternal Lion, the Lord of the Tranquil Steppes, Mongke Arslan. As you survey the damage done to the city's fortifications by the flaming missiles of the Ash Giants, you feel an electric jolt surge up from the earth and lock your muscles into place. Your vision flashes brilliant white, and when it returns you realize that the eyes you see through are not your own. You are flying high above the Tranquil Steppes, many leagues away to the North East. Lying among the grass you begin to see bloody and broken forms. Dire hyenas and gnolls lay scattered around, their innards torn out by huge gashes in their pelts. Dozens and dozens of them, hundreds perhaps. You continue to fly over the, following the grisly trail of carnage, until you hear a familiar sounding roar. It shakes the very earth, ferocious and defiant. You look to the roar and see the gigantic form of a massive dire lion, standing atop a pile of fresh gnoll corpses. He stands proud and triumphant, but you can see his victory was very hard fought. Terrible wounds crisscross his flanks, seeping crimson that mats his fur. He turns his great gaze upon you and you can see that one of his eyes has been ruined by the wicked barbs of a gnoll morningstar, the weapon still lodged in the socket. Still you can see he is Mongke Arslan, Lord of the Tranquil Steppes, and he is undefeated by his enemies. As the Eternal Lion opens his maw and raises it to the heavens, your vision flashes white once again. But as your senses return to your body, you hear with your own ears his mighty roar again and feel it reverberate within your chest. Dylan will receive a vision of his god, Belenos. As you kneel to administer a healing spell to one of your comrades after the battle, you feel a peculiar tug at your soul where it connects to your god. The tug grows steadily stronger until you feel your consciousness pulled directly out of your body. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, you fly with tremendous speed across the Tranquil Steppes and beyond to the north. You pass over dark woodlands and tepid swamplands until you come to beautiful prairie, bordered by a verdant forest. Your vision comes to rest upon a humble but well-made log cabin, pleasant hearth fire smoke spiraling out from its roughhewn stone chimney. The door to the cabin opens, and an indescribably welcoming light spills forth. A man steps out of the open door and gestures you to join him within. His features are handsome and serene, strong and wise. "Join me, my son," he says. "All are welcome in my new domain." But before you can enter the cabin, your consciousness is shot back into your body and you are once again surrounded by the din of the wounded and the dying. The will need to make a choice: Do they stay and try to rebuild Khina? Or do they return the people to their nomadic roots and take them to safer lands? They convinced 225 of the Mamluks to join Khina. Most gave the glory of the victory to Arslan, but some converted to Belenos. They threw a huge victory celebration. They more or less decided to stay. They need to spend a month around Khina to help the slaves integrate. At some point the people will start getting kidnapped by Serpent Folk and taken to the Chimera Pits. There will be a fight with the Serpent Folk and with some Chimera. They hunted down the 2 Ash Giants who retreated and intercepted them before they made it to the mountains. They killed the giants and then an illusionary messenger of Osborne appeared. He offered them sanctuary in the Dead Lands in exchange for a blood tithe but they said no. He then showed them a scrying image of Serpent Folk riding Chimera capturing escaped mamelukes and hauling them over the mountains. They teleported back to Khina and the elders brought Dalia to them. She is an escaped slave from the Chimera Pits, she's been partially transformed into a medusa. They cured her and then she told them what she knew about the Pits. Noah gave the armor to Cináed, the Arch Duke's seneschal. They quarreled though so he took it to Guild Mistress Reynell instead. She got them an audience with the Arch Duke, who interviewed Noah and agreed to sponsor him. Tori met the Rat King, Scordato in the ante chamber and they had a nice chat. They then when shopping at a couple guild shops and got a Tome of Clay Golem and A Tome of Wis +2.